Private Royals and Public Heroes: From William III to the Duke of Marlborough (1702–1722)

Following the unusual schedules at Queen Anne of Denmark's and James I's funerals, Charles II had set the ultimate precedent for private, nocturnal royal funerals, indeed for the private funeral of the monarch. In the first quarter of the eighteenth century then, there continued what had begun in the previous century: the contrast between the private, rather modest funerals of royalty – with the notable, but singular exception of Mary II in 1694/5 – and the ostentatious, public obsequies of prominent aristocrats and great national heroes – such as Albemarle. After 1695, there was no major royal or state funeral for the rest of the century: all three of Mary II's children had been stillborn in 1678 and 1680. Similarly, her sister Princess Anne's many offspring were stillborn or died in infancy; the longest surviving child was Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, who died in 1700. His lying-in-state took place in a room in the Palace of Westminster. According to an account in the College of Arms, the procession to the funeral went from the Palace ‘cross the Old-Palace Yard […] to the South door of the Abbey’. It thus followed the same route as at Charles II's funeral. The account includes an intriguing musical detail: it records that, when the procession reached the south door of the Abbey, ‘the Hauboÿs were ranged on the left Hand’. Thus, the oboes may have played during this procession, as in 1695 – notably, however, the 1700 account does not mention any trumpets or drums, which had taken part in earlier funerals. The account provides also a detailed description of the entrance procession: And passing down the South Ile, by the West end of the Choir, went up the North side to King Henry 7. th’s Chappel whilst an Anthem, proper for the Occasion, was sung. This appears to be the earliest entrance procession for which the route is recorded, and also the only one with this specific route (see Illustration 3.1). The ‘Anthem, proper for the Occasion’ must refer to the opening Sentences of the Burial Service but it cannot be known in what setting they were sung. Apart from this ‘Anthem’ at the beginning of the service, the reports do not mention any other music.

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